A Tale Of Two Cities
by Lizzie9
Summary: Meredith and Derek, post prom. Meredith and Derek, in NYC, post divorce. Addison and Mark. Jealousy, sex, lies, and a case that might just kill them all. A little bit of bicoastal fun, a McBaby, and the lesson of what really matters in life.
1. Chapter 1

Title: A Tale Of Two Cities

Authors: Sara and Lizzie

Rating: T for language, sex, you know.

Disclaimer: We happen to own our personal anatomies, not Grey's. Or Patrick Dempsey's. Sadly.

Summary: Another shot at Post Prom. It's going to be a little silly. It will be our version of what happens post prom, and then jump a few months in the future when uh, some bicoastal high jinx ensue. So we'll start right after the prom.

Author's Note: The updates on this probably won't be as frequent on this because we are going to be feverishly working on "A Little Something Called Forever", "One Hell Of A Racket", and "Keeping The Faith". But this will be fun. And funny. Review. Consider this the funny version of "Keeping the Faith" because in both stories, Meredith will ask Derek to wait for one month for different reasons. Just read. And review.

Sex with Derek. Denny dying. Izzie. Finn. Addison.

Standing there on those steps, caught between the vet, and her McDreamy, things should have been murky, but suddenly, Meredith Grey could see everything very clearly.

She turned to Finn. "I'm sorry." She told him. She closed the gap between her and Derek, and taking a proverbial leap, she held out her hand. "Let's talk, Derek."

She pulled him outside, and turned to face him, looking right into his eyes. He was smiling at her. "We should make this quick. Izzie's going to need me, and I'm sure Addison will miss you. Derek, when I saw Denny lying there, and I knew that he was dead, and I saw how deeply Izzie felt it, it scared me. The only person I've ever felt that deeply for is you." She paused, watching for his reaction. He was grinning at her.

She took a deep breath and smiled at him. His grin broadened and he allowed himself to hope that maybe this was good news. "And it scared me that I might never be able to love you that fully again. And I know that you chose Addison, and I know why you chose her. But maybe, you might want to re-evaluate?"

He grinned until he laughed. It was the fantasy of the last few months come true. He didn't say anything, he just stood there and smiled at her.

"Derek? Say something." She prompted with a nervous laugh. "This isn't a pick me, choose me, I promise. It's just a-"

"Mer?" he asked. "It's always been you."

Her smile matched his now, so hugged her, and even picked her up. She laughed as her prom dress swirled around her legs. He kissed her, the way he'd wanted to kiss her every time he'd seen her since Addison came back.

She kissed him back for a long time, forgetting that they were standing outside the hospital, forgetting that he was still married, forgetting that she needed oxygen. When she finally pulled away, breathless with lips swollen, she regarded him seriously.

"I need to ask you something."

"Anything." He said, taking her hand.

"I want to wait. For one month."

"Wait for what?"

"To tell Addison. To go through with all of this." He looked uncertain now, and she struggled to explain. "I don't want this to happen because we just had sex, or because everything is so gritty right now. I want to do it right this time."

"And that means a month?"

"You can figure out how to talk to Addison. I can break it off with Finn in the way he deserves. It won't be so…"

"Illicit?"

"Exactly."

He kissed her again, pulling her so close to him she thought she just might melt right into him. He pulled away, kissed her forehead, and then her lips, gently.

"What was that for?" she smiled

"Just cause I won't be able to do it for another month."

She looked at him for awhile, and instead of following her natural instincts and throwing him down on the nearest flat surface and removing all of his clothes, she hugged him. And when he put his arms around her, she felt whole for the time in months.

"We should go back." She said into his chest. "I need to make sure Izzie is okay."

He pulled back from her, arms still around her, and looked at her.

"What?" she asked.

"I can't believe that you're trusting me to do this again." He said, honestly.

She grinned, extracted herself from his arms, squeezed his hands and headed inside. "I have faith in you Derek." She called out before she disappeared through the automatic doors.

He sank down onto a bench, and stared up at the sky, feeling dizzy with euphoria. He barely noticed Addison sit down next to him.

"Hey." She said softly.

"It's a great night, isn't it?" he asked her.

She frowned. "If you don't count the reason for this prom. Oh, and that Steven's fiancée just died."

"But it's beautiful outside, Addison."

She gave him a look. "Sure, Derek."

Addison got up to go inside, and Derek followed, Meredith's words echoing over and over in his head. "I have faith in you Derek."

She had faith in him. That was all he'd ever need.


	2. Chapter 2

Title: A Tale Of Two Cities

Authors: Sara and Lizzie

Rating: T for language, sex, you know.

Disclaimer: We happen to own our personal anatomies, not Grey's. Or Patrick Dempsey's. Sadly.

Summary: Another shot at Post Prom. It's going to be a little silly. It will be our version of what happens post prom, and then jump a few months in the future when uh, some bicoastal high jinx ensue. So we'll start right after the prom.

Author's Note: The updates on this probably won't be as frequent on this because we are going to be feverishly working on "A Little Something Called Forever", "One Hell Of A Racket", and "Keeping The Faith". But this will be fun. And funny. Review. Consider this the funny version of "Keeping the Faith" because in both stories, Meredith will ask Derek to wait for one month for different reasons. Just read. And review.

Meredith waltzed into the locker room, smiling. Cristina gave her a look. "Why do you look like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like all happy? Where's angst ridden Meredith?"

"I'm not smiling." Meredith said, pulling on her scrubs.

George looked at her too. "Yes you are."

She shook her head adamantly. "Nope. No smiles. Izzie's sad, things are a mess. No smiling here."

Cristina narrowed her eyes. "Oh my God," she said. "That's the McDreamy smile."

"Is not."

"Meredith, tell me you didn't."

"I didn't." Cristina didn't even have to say that Meredith was a bad liar, or that se didn't believe a word her friend was saying. All she did was give her a very pointed look. Meredith made a face. "Only once."

"You slept with him?"

"He's leaving Addison." She looked at the skeptical glare on her friend's face. "I asked him to wait. For a month. To make sure we're sure. And so it's not right after we had sex."

Cristina raised her eyebrows and almost smiled. "No wonder you're grinning euphorically."

* * *

Bailey lined up the four remaining interns in a row. "Okay people." She said, walking back and forth in front of them. "I will deal with Dr. Stevens. But I can not ignore the fact that you three helped her." She glared at George, Cristina and Meredith.

"So, as punishment, you will each be assigned to one attending or other wise higher ranking surgeon. You will do whatever they ask of you. This could include rounds, scans, test, charts, and mocha lattes, anything they want. If and only if you manage to accomplish everything they want, then and only then may you scrub in on surgeries."

Cristina raised her hand. "How long will this happen for?"

"At least a month, Yang. Maybe the rest of your internship." The three of them raised their eyebrows at each other as Derek, Addison and Burke filed into the hallway.

Bailey pursed her lips and crossed her arms. "O'Malley, you'll be with Dr. Burke." Cristina rolled her eyes as she watched George practically skip over to Preston.

Burke smiled. "You're my guy, O'Malley."

George grinned at the rest of the interns. "I'm still his guy."

"Yang," Bailey said. "Dr. Shepherd." Cristina started to walk towards Derek, figuring Bailey wouldn't put him with Meredith. But, Bailey shook her head. "Montgomery Shepherd." Cristina didn't bother to try and hide her horror.

"No offense." She said to Addison. "I'm just not big on babies."

"You done?" Bailey asked. Cristina stopped talking. "Grey," Bailey continued, "You'll be with the other Dr. Shepherd."

Addison waited for Meredith and Derek to exchange a look or a smile that they thought she wouldn't pick up on. She waited for the room to vibrate with their sexual tension, but it didn't come.

"What?" they both exclaimed at the same time? Addison raised her eyebrows. Neither of them looked especially pleased. Maybe it really was changing. A self satisfied smile graced her features.

Bailey did not look pleased. "Is that inconvenient for you two?" She asked. They both shook their heads.

Alex looked at her. "What about me?"

"Karev, you're not being punished because you were technically with Dr. Burke while these antics were going on."

He shook his head. "If I had been here I would have helped. And I helped cover it up."

"You want to be punished?"

He nodded. "I want equal share in whatever they have to take."

Cristina, George and Meredith looked at him like he was crazy. Bailey shook her head. "Fine, Karev. You're with me."

* * *

Meredith and Derek were standing in the hallway in front of the operating board. "We're supposed to be staying away from each other." He said, grinning his cocky, frat boy grin.

"I never said that." She retaliated. "I only said that we couldn't sleep together. Or kiss. Or touch in anyway that would make me sleep with you."

He laughed. "It's going to be a long month, Dr. Grey."

Addison came up to the board and put her hand on Derek's arm. "Hi." She said to him. "Dr. Grey."

"Dr. Shepherd." Meredith said, the picture of a professional.

Addison looked at the board and consulted Derek. "Your last surgery is at four. Do you want to go out to dinner tonight?"

Derek was casting side long glances at Meredith. "What?" he asked Addison, distractedly.

She rolled her eyes. "Dinner. Tonight. You. Me." She said slowly, as if Derek were a petulant child.

He shrugged. "Whatever you want, Addie."

She gave him a strange look. "Okay, Derek. Meet me in the main lobby at six. After your last surgery." He nodded and kissed her on the cheek.

Meredith, who had flipped open the chart she was holding upon the beginning of their conversation, looked up and smiled. "Bye Dr. Shepherd."

"See you later Dr. Grey." Addison said, walking away. She didn't know what it was, but something was extremely strange.

Meredith looked at Derek, who flashed another smile. "Still want to wait a month?" he asked.

She released the angry death grip she had on her pen. "Two weeks does sound a lot better, doesn't it?"


	3. Chapter 3

Title: A Tale Of Two Cities

Authors: Sara and Lizzie

Rating: T for language, sex, you know.

Disclaimer: We happen to own our personal anatomies, not Grey's. Or Patrick Dempsey's. Sadly.

Summary: Another shot at Post Prom. It's going to be a little silly. It will be our version of what happens post prom, and then jump a few months in the future when uh, some bicoastal high jinx ensue. So we'll start right after the prom.

Author's Note: The updates on this probably won't be as frequent on this because we are going to be feverishly working on "A Little Something Called Forever", "One Hell Of A Racket", and "Keeping The Faith". But this will be fun. And funny. Review. Consider this the funny version of "Keeping the Faith" because in both stories, Meredith will ask Derek to wait for one month for different reasons. Just read. And review.

"You should be getting dressed for dinner." Meredith said to Derek. He smiled at her.

"I should be a lot of things." He said, smirking. "Two weeks…." He said. "That's an awfully long time."

Meredith rolled her eyes. "It's shorter than a month, and also my final offer."

Derek smiled down at her. "I guess I have no choice but to accept." Meredith backed away, because if she didn't she would have kissed him right there, and she didn't want to go against her silly, self imposed rule.

"This is hardly fun for me, you know." She said, pouting. "I do get to break up with Finn and watch you go on romantic dinner dates with Addison."

Derek was about to retort that it was all her idea to wait, but his pager kept him from saying anything. He was sure it would be Addison, but it wasn't.

"Trauma!" he said, grinning. "Paging me. Must be neuro."

* * *

Five hours later, Derek was sitting in his office chair, with his feet resting on his desk. Meredith came in with a bag of food from a sandwich shop around the corner from Joe's. Her eyes were still shining. "Amazing." She said again.

Down the hall from the office, Addison froze. "That was incredible Derek." She heard Meredith say. "You cut that guy's brain in half. And then you took out a clot. And then you put him back together.

"We." Derek said. "We cut that guy's brain in half." Meredith grinned at him. Addison moved closer to her husbands office and leaned against the door frame as she stood, unnoticed.

Meredith opened the bag she was holding. "Turkey, roast beef, bacon, mayo, onion and spicy mustard." She said, holding a sandwich out to Derek. "And for the record, that's disgusting."

"Yet amazing that you knew to order that." He smiled. "And I did keep up my end of the deal." He said, grinning at her. He reached under his desk and extended a cup to her. "Vanilla latte, caramel, lots of whipped cream."

She took a sip and smiled. "I don't even want to know how you got this." She pulled her own sandwich out of the bag and unwrapped it.

"We cut someone's brain in half." She said incredulously. Derek laughed. Meredith shook her head. She saw the glint of red at the door. "Addison."

Derek turned and looked in the door way to see his wife holding a bag. "Addison."

"Hi." She said. "You missed dinner. Because of the surgery. So I thought I'd bring dinner to you. But clearly, you're already eating." She said softly, not sure what to make of the situation. They weren't doing anything wrong. But there was something about their demeanor that made her intuition scream.

Derek smiled at her. "Come in. Eat with us."

Meredith smiled, and picked up her sandwich and her coffee. "I should go." She said. "Thanks for letting me scrub in, Dr. Shepherd."

"Dr. Grey." He said. "You can stay."

Addison inwardly rolled her eyes, but nodded politely. "Yes. Meredith, stay."

Meredith smiled and shook her head. "I should really go. I'll see you tomorrow. Um, you both, tomorrow." She stammered, leaving.

* * *

She stomped into Joe's twenty minutes later. "How's Izzie?" she asked Cristina and George, slumping on a bar stool next to them. Alex came over and answered her question.

"About as well as can be expected." He said.

Meredith laid her head on her hands and signaled to Joe. He placed a shot in front of her and she lifted her head and smiled at him. "I love you Joe." She said, sipping the tequila.

Everyone looked at her. "What?" she asked.

"What the hell?" Cristina asked.

Meredith sighed. "Derek and I decided on a two week deadline."

"Two weeks to what?" Alex and George asked in unison.

"He's leaving Addison." Meredith and Cristina chimed in together.

Callie slid onto the stool next to George and gave them all a look. "Okay, that was weird." She said.

"Seriously?" George and Alex said together.

Callie's face screwed up even more. "Joe, I need a drink." She said.

Alex coughed and addressed Meredith again. "Are you sure he's for real?"

Meredith smiled to herself and nodded. "I asked him to wait. So it wasn't right after…" she saw Callie's raised eyebrows and trailed off.

George and Alex seemed to catch her drift. "Oh." George said.

"So where is he now?" Cristina asked.

Meredith scowled. "Having dinner in his office with Addison."

Cristina grinned and clapped her on the back. "It's going to be a long, long, two weeks."

Meredith downed the rest of the shot and signaled for another one.

* * *

Addison shut the door to the trailer and kissed Derek softly. He kissed her back for about a second and then pulled away. Addison frowned. Derek started to put his things away.

Addison pulled off her clothes and sidled up to him in her bra and underwear. "Derek." She said, "Come to bed?"

He barely regarded her. "Addie, I'm tired, okay?" he asked. Somehow, the notion of sleeping with his wife gave him the distinct feeling of cheating on Meredith.

"Fine." Addison snapped, wrapping herself in her robe and heading for the shower. When she came back, Derek pretended to be asleep. He lay awake until he heard her breathing deeply.

He got up and pulled on jeans and a sweater. He grabbed his keys and left the trailer. In the dark emptiness, Addison opened her eyes, and sighed.

* * *

Derek drove on auto pilot, knowing where he was going, but not really directing himself there. He parked outside Meredith's house and knocked on the door. He was surprised when Alex answered. "Dr. Karev." He said, realizing he must be there because of Izzie. "How's Dr. Stevens?"

"She's a mess, but she'll be okay."

Derek nodded. "Is, uh, Meredith here?"

Alex nodded. "She's in her room." Derek nodded his thanks and climbed the stairs. Meredith was asleep, and Derek sat down on the edge of her bed. Her eyes fluttered open.

"Hi." She said.

"Hi." He said. "I shouldn't be here. I'm sorry."

She smiled. "You shouldn't be here, Derek. You're still married. And it's only been a day." She reached for him, and pulled him down close to her. She brushed her lips to his. "You shouldn't be here." She whispered. "But I'm glad you are."


	4. Chapter 4

**Title: A Tale Of Two Cities**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T for language, sex, you know. **

**Disclaimer: We happen to own our personal anatomies, not Grey's. Or Patrick Dempsey's. Sadly. **

**Summary: Another shot at Post Prom. It's going to be a little silly. It will be our version of what happens post prom, and then jump a few months in the future when uh, some bicoastal high jinx ensue. So we'll start right after the prom. **

**Author's Note: The deliberation is over. We are pleased (and somewhat frightened) to announce that this is going to be The Pregnant Story. Yes, folks, even though we may lose some of you, we cant resist. There will be a Meredith and Derek reproduction plot, but we promise you, it will be different from the others. Stick with us. **

**The reviews for all of our fics have been amazing. We love you all. Keep reviewing!**

Meredith's eyes were fluttering. She was wrapped in Derek's arms and falling asleep. When he heard her breathing deepen, he started to untangle himself from her. She rolled toward him and opened her heavy eyes.

"Stay." She mumbled.

Without hesitation, he obeyed. "Okay."

She shook her head. "No, you can't. There's Addison, and Finn, and two weeks."

"Right." He said. "I could always tell Addison I was…" She shook her head.

"We've got so many lies already."

He kissed her temple and got out of her bed. She shivered, feeling cold without him. He tucked her sheets tightly around her and kissed her again. "I'll miss you." He said at the door.

* * *

Derek was standing in front of the board the next morning, when the tell tale clack of Addison's heels broke him out of his play by play from the night before.

"So you left last night." She said.

"I came back." He said, a little defensively.

"I know." She said. "Where did…"

"I needed to get some air. You know, clear my head."

"Your head needed clearing?"

He leaned down and kissed her cheek. "It's nothing." He strode away, and she turned from the board and watched him go.

"Dr. Bailey needs you for a consult, Dr. Shepherd." One of the nurses said.

"Thanks Wendy." He said. "Do me a favor and page Dr. Grey?" Addison's eyes narrowed. She shook her head.

Get a grip, she told herself. She's the intern assigned to him. She rolled her eyes. She could already tell it was going to be a fantastic day.

"All right, Dr. Shepherd." She heard Dr. Yang say as she walked up next to her. "Am I going to see an OR today, or just listen to babies scream for ten hours?"

Addison sighed. Yes. It was going to be a fantastic day.

* * *

"Dr. Grey." Derek said as Meredith breezed in the door. His tone caused Bailey to raise her eyebrows.

"Dr. Shepherd." She replied with a smile.

"Ready for another day?"

"Absolutely."

Bailey looked back and forth between them. "I don't want to know. I'm going to pretend that none of those tones or glances were exhibited in my presence and I'm going to go. When you figure out what's wrong with my patient, let me know."

With that, she backed out of the room.

Derek smiled at Meredith over the hospital bed. "CT scan Grey." he ordered.

She smirked at him. "Your wish is my command, Dr. Shepherd." With that, she wheeled the patient out of the room, leaving Derek to stare after her, grinning like an idiot.

* * *

Later that night, Meredith was sitting on a barstool at Joe's, chewing on a thumbnail and waiting for Finn. She could see Derek across the room, sitting at a table, watching her. She smiled at him and he nodded at her, encouraging her.

He got up and made his way over to the bar, signaling to Joe that he needed another drink. He leaned on the bar next to Meredith.

"Meeting someone?"

"As a matter of fact, yes." She said smiling. "Jealous?"

"Well that depends. Is he going to touch you? Because if he's going to touch you…"

Meredith smiled and smirked. "Interesting, Dr. Shepherd."

"You are breaking up with him, aren't you?"

"You are breaking up with her?"

He checked his watch. "Twelve days, nine hours and twenty seven minutes, but really, who's counting?"

Meredith looked at him with the softest, sweetest look he had ever seen. "You're counting." She said.

He shrugged sheepishly. Meredith couldn't wipe the grin off of her face.

* * *

Addison blinked at the familiar face raising a hand at her outside of The Emerald City Bar. "Dr. Dandridge." She said with a smile.

"Dr. Shepherd, call me Finn." He said.

"Addison." She told him. "Meeting Dr. Grey?"

"Yes, I sure am. Meeting Dr. Shepherd?"

She nodded. "I'm sorry about Doc." He said.

Addison shrugged as he pulled the door open for her. "It was really Meredith's dog. But we had the land so…" She trailed off as they both stood in the doorway, watching Derek and Meredith. She was sitting on a stool and he was leaning against the bar facing her.

It hit Addison again. That nagging feeling that something wasn't just quite right. They were just talking, but it seemed painfully obvious to her that there was something else there. She turned to Finn and drew in a breath as if she was going to say something, but stopped herself.

"What?" he asked her gently, tearing his away. She didn't have to ask him, because the look on his face told her that he had that same feeling.

He made the first move towards them. "Meredith." He said, approaching the bar. "Dr. Shepherd."

Derek smiled at him. "Dr. Dandridge." He said, sticking out his hand. "How are things in the animal kingdom?"

Finn, who had been sure he was going to be able to detect undertones of jealousy or sarcasm, was surprised to see the grin on Derek's face was sincere. He shook his hand, smiling back.

"Fine, thank you. How's Seattle Grace." Derek smiled.

"Never a dull moment. Have Meredith tell about how she cut some guy's brain in half the other day." With that, he led Addison to their table.

"You cut a guy's brain in half?" Finn asked.

Meredith smiled weakly, downed her shot and looked at him. "I'm sorry." She said.

Finn sensed she was not apologizing for the surgery. "Meredith."

"I like you. I like your plans. You're an amazing, warm person, but I just can't."

"Okay…"he said slowly, drawing the world out. "Why not?"

For the briefest of seconds her eyes darted to Derek's table, and then she looked down. "Him." He said. "Dr. Shepherd."

She bit her lip. "I'm so sorry." She whispered.

"He's married, Meredith." Finn said, trying to remain calm and rational even though he wasn't feeling it. She shook her head.

"It's complicated." She could see he didn't understand her. "I love him."

Finn just stared at her, so she slid off of her barstool and headed for the bathroom.

Addison's cell phone rang and she answered it, signaling to Derek she needed another drink. Her back was facing the bar, so he used the opportunity to follow Meredith. Without a glance in Finn, he followed her.

"You love me, right?" Meredith asked him. "Like you're not just saying this because we had sex and then I practically threw myself at you? I mean, you really love and you really are going to sign this time?"

He smiled at the fact she didn't seem at all surprised to see him in the woman's bathroom. So he put his hands on her cheeks and looked into her eyes. "I love you." He said. "I love you so much that I can't sleep. I can't focus. All I can do is love you."

"And you're really going to sign the papers?"

He kissed her forehead, her nose and then her lips. "I'm really going to sign the papers."

She smiled and put her arms around him. "I love you." She said.

Addison meandered up to the bar, looking around. "Seen my husband?"

"He went to the bathroom." Finn said dejectedly.

Addison put a hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong?"

He shook his head, threw a few bills onto the bar and got up. "Tell Dr. Shepherd I said goodbye." He said, walking away, leaving a very confused Addison in his wake.

Meredith walked out of the bathroom first, cell phone in hand. "Did you know Cristina is really doing those charts you asked her for?" she said, smiling at Addison. "She just called me to complain."

Addison smiled back. Meredith didn't seem surprised that Finn was gone. She was about to ask her about it, but Meredith's pager silenced them.

"Trauma." Meredith said, looking at it.

Derek came out of the bathroom, also clutching a beeping pager. He held it up so Addison could see it. "Trauma." He told her. "See you in the morning." He too threw some bills on the bar, and followed Meredith out of the bar.


	5. Chapter 5

**Title: A Tale Of Two Cities**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T for language, sex, you know. **

**Disclaimer: We** **happen to own our personal anatomies, not Grey's. Or Patrick Dempsey's. Sadly. **

**Summary: Another shot at Post Prom. It's going to be a little silly. It will be our version of what happens post prom, and then jump a few months in the future when uh, some bicoastal high** **jinx ensue. So we'll start right after the prom.**

**Author's Note: Thoughts that go in first person inside a characters head are in italics. For those interested in more about us (Sara and Lizzie), we hail from New York City, and attend the University Of Pennsylvania in Philly. Our parents encouraged us to a) attend an Ivy League and b) get out of the city for a few years, and UPenn was the only one that wasnt in some cold, New England town. So that clears that up. **

**ALSO, many a reviewer was asking for McSteamy. We had originally planned to bring him in later, but we decided to give you guys what you asked for. So, here you are.**

**The reviews for all of our fics have been amazing. We love you all. Keep reviewing!**

_"You've been such a positive influence on my mental frame." -Motion City Soundtrack_

Addison bit her lip. _Why is he calling me? Why now? _So the phone call had been Mark. It didn't mean anything. He was three thousand miles and a world away. She was in Seattle. Things were going well with Derek. So he left the trailer to clear his head.

He was smiling at her and talking to her, and everything was going to be just fine. _He loves you. He's your husband. _It had to be fine. Mark sounded drunk. He had probably just gotten the boot from another Park Avenue trophy wife and drunk dialed her.

_I will not give Mark a second thought. I won't. _

She ordered one more drink. Trauma patient. She would just see about that.

* * *

"Saved by the trauma guy." Meredith said as she and Derek strode into the hospital. Derek smiled at her. A full on, cocky McDreamy smile. He leaned in and whispered to her, so she could feel his breath on her cheek. 

"I needed some saving. The bathroom at Joe's isn't the best place to take you against the wall." She stopped walking and raised her eyebrows.

"Dr. Shepherd. If I didn't know any better, I'd think you were trying to seduce me."

"Is it working?"

It was her turn to lean in close to him. He could smell her shampoo, her lavender conditioner, her perfume, her lip gloss. It was intoxicating. "Absolutely." She told him.

She pulled away from him, locking eyes with Bailey, whose expression seemed to flitter back and forth between irate and bemused. "Grey, prep Shepherd's OR, okay?"

She nodded, a small smile gracing her delicate features, exchanged a private look with Derek, then headed for the surgical floor. Bailey crossed her arms over her chest and stared down Dr. Shepherd.

"Planning on taking her right here in the lobby, Doc?" She asked, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

Derek smiled and walked over to her. "My charm doesn't work on you." He said.

"No, your so called charm does not work on me, Shepherd. But it clearly works on my intern." She glanced down at his hands. "And you're clearly still married." She said, looking at his wedding ring. He slipped it off and put it in his pocket.

"Miranda, she's…. she's Meredith Grey. And she's got faith in me. In _me_." He smiled with a far away look on his face. Bailey shot him a look of disgust.

"I don't care if she's nominating you for a Nobel Prize. You have a patient with head trauma. OR three, and I swear to God, if I find you copping feels during surgery…."

Derek smiled. "Quite the selective memory you've got Dr. Bailey. I'm your boss, if you'll recall." She walked away shaking her head.

"Hospital is full of freaking crazy people." She muttered.

* * *

Derek breezed into the scrub in room and washed his hands. He held them out to Meredith who got to work pulling his gloves on. She stopped at his second hand. It looked different somehow. 

"Problem, Dr. Grey?" he asked. She didn't even look at his face, because she could hear the smile in his voice.

"You're missing something." She said, working too keep her tone light.

"Twelve days, eight hours and four minutes." He said. "I figured it wouldn't hurt to see the hand without the ring." He smiled with adoration as her face melted into the same sweet look he had seen at the bar.

* * *

Addison sat in the gallery, and paged Dr. Yang, whom she knew was on call. She looked down to see her husband and his intern setting up the OR. They were fully scrubbed in, and it looked like they were just waiting for the patient to finish getting prepped. Addison's jaw set. 

Since when did Derek prep his own OR for surgery? What the hell was going on here? She watched in sick fascination as Meredith gazed at him, her doe eyes shining. For God's sake, her own husband was staring at her with a gooey eyed adoration that made her feel nauseous.

But they weren't sleeping together. They weren't doing anything wrong. She could not just charge in there and make a scene because they were looking at each other.

"You paged?" she heard from behind her. Yang walked into the gallery and sat down tow chairs away from Addison and looked. "You brought me to a gallery to watch Meredith prep the OR?"

She squinted and looked down again. "Is that Shepherd? God, since when do famous neurosurgeons prep their own operating tables?" Addison looked at her pointedly, and Cristina realized that she had just articulated the redhead's thoughts.

"So you paged?" she asked again.

"How are the charts coming?"

"Finished."

Addison raised her eyebrows, impressed. _She's was efficient. Going to be a great doctor_. She looked down again. _So is Meredith_. She turned back to the intern assigned to her. "Check the babies still in intensive care. Then get some sleep."

Cristina nodded. "Look, I can't like bond with you or anything, cause you kind of ruined my best friend's life. But, just so you know, obsessing isn't going to help."

Addison shook her head as the intern disappeared. She looked down into the gallery again, to see the patient being wheeled in on a stretcher. She watched as they moved him onto the operating table, and did a double take and felt her heart sink.

The patient, covered in dirt, bruises, scratches and blood, with a chunk of plastic sticking out of his head, was none other than her former knight in not so shining armor, Mark Sloan.

* * *

Meredith's breath caught in her throat when she caught a glimpse of the face attached to the body. Scratched and bloody, it was none other than the perfectly sculpted face of Mark. And he had what looked like a piece of windshield sticking out of his forehead. She looked at Derek, who was just staring. 

"That's Mark." He said, his tone hushed.

Meredith put a protective hand on his arm. "Derek, are you…?"

"He's clotting in the forebrain doctor." The head scrub nurse said. "Aside from the obvious."

"We need to operate now." Derek said to himself, more than anyone else. "God, what is he doing here?"

"Derek?" Meredith asked, throwing the rule of the OR out the window. Several of the scrub nurses raised their eyebrows. He stared at Mark, blinking. "Derek." She said, her tone commanding this time. It snapped him to attention and he cut into Mark's head.

Meredith was just feeling like everything was going to be okay, when she saw Derek freezing up. Maybe it was fear, because he'd wished for this to happen and he didn't want to kill Mark. Maybe he didn't want to operate because of what the man on the table had done.

She didn't wait for the answer. She simply closed her hand over his instrument, and he stepped back, and mumbled instructions to her.

* * *

Cristina burst back into the gallery. "I heard Shepherd was removing a hunk of windshield from some dude's head." She said. She saw the look on Addison's face and looked down into the OR. "Isn't that….?" 

"Yes." Addison said quietly.

"And Meredith is doing the surgery!" Cristina exclaimed suddenly. "What? Oh, this is great. Bambi gets to do triple bypasses with my boyfriend and Meredith is taking windshields out of foreheads."

Addison lifted her head from her hands. "Dr. Yang, since your current sole purpose at this hospital is to do what I tell you, so please, just shut up."

* * *

Meredith lowered her hands from Mark's head and looked at the scrub nurses. "Close him up." She said. She followed Derek out of the OR. They took off their bloodied scrub sheets in silence, and it was only outside in the deserted corridor that he looked at her. 

"Thank you." He said.

She smiled tentatively at him. "I should be thanking you." She said. "Are you okay?"

"I don't know. I just, I saw him, and I couldn't…" he swallowed hard and looked at her. "When I found him and Addison, I wanted something like this to happen, but God, when I saw him bleeding in my OR…."

She closed a hand over his. "I get it." She told him gently. "You did well, Meredith. Really, really well."

She laughed. "I had a great teacher."

"You could have a future with neuro."

"Don't you mean in neuro?"

Blue lightning pierced grey steel as they stared at each other. "In neuro." He corrected softly. "With me." She squeezed his hand in response before releasing it. Together, they started walking down the hallway.


	6. Chapter 6

**Title: A Tale Of Two Cities**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T for language, sex, you know. **

**Disclaimer: We happen to own our personal anatomies, not Grey's. Or Patrick Dempsey's. Sadly. **

**Summary: Another shot at Post Prom. It's going to be a little silly. It will be our version of what happens post prom, and then jump a few months in the future when uh, some bicoastal high jinx ensue. So we'll start right after the prom. **

**Author's Note: Thoughts that go in first person inside a characters head are in italics. **

**The reviews for all of our fics have been amazing. We love you all. Keep reviewing!**

_Eight Days_

Four days had passed since the night she had asked him if he loved her in a bar. Four days had passed since her small hand had closed over his scalpel.

Four days, three surgeries, and about a hundred stolen kisses later, Meredith walked into room 3952 to check on Mark Sloan.

"Dr. Sloan," she said, flipping open his chart. "You're looking fine this morning."

He snatched his chart from her hands and started reading it impatiently. "When am I going to get out of this bed?"

"Mark." Meredith said sternly. "I took a chunk of windshield of your face. Your blood alcohol level was through the roof. You need a few more days."

"That's what you two days ago." He muttered. The he blinked at her, for the first time noticing a change. There was a sparkle to her eyes, a glow to her face, and her entire demeanor was faster, jumpier. "Why do you look like that?"

She coughed. "Like what?" she asked defensively. Mark sat there, turning the pieces over in his head. Derek hadn't been all the hostile to him. Addison had. Derek let an intern perform one of his surgeries. It all made sense.

"Nothing." He told Meredith, in a voice that indicated it was anything but nothing. Her pager went off. She checked it, and a flush spread across her other wise pale cheeks. "See?" Mark taunted. "Obviously nothing."

Meredith rolled her eyes. "Well you seem fine for now Sloan. Call a nurse if you need help going to the bathroom." She left his room, chuckling to herself and set a course for the cafeteria.

She walked outside and hovered above a chair at a table occupied by one other person. "Seat taken?" she asked.

"Funny thing is, Dr. Grey, that seat is not taken, and you know what it does to my self esteem if I have to eat alone." Derek said. "It happens to be why I paged you. Couldn't bear to eat without a strikingly beautiful woman at my table."

Meredith rolled her eyes, but smiled at him all the same. "I checked on Dr. Sloan." She said, choosing not to use his first name in front of Derek. "He should stay for a few days, just in case, but he looks good."

Derek nodded. "I'm glad to hear it." He paused and took a bit of his sandwich. "And how are you holding up?"

"Eight days." She whispered.

Addison strolled outside, and looked around for a place to sit. Her eyes landed on the tell tale wave of dark hair that occupied her husband's head, and she headed in his direction. From the petite girl next to him came a tinkling laugh.

She stood back and observed, watched them as she had frequently over the last few days. Almost hoping to catch them, almost praying to find some sign on an affair, some reason to have this suspicion that had been trailing behind her confirmed.

But they weren't touching. They weren't sitting particularly close together. There was a chart open between them, and she was pointing something, and he was pointing to something else and she was laughing about it.

Addison would never understand. A few days ago they had wanted to kill each other, and now all of a sudden, then were friends that ate lunch and laughed together? She walked over to the table and sat down. "Hi." She said, kissing Derek's cheek and watching Meredith for a reaction.

Nothing. She merely flipped to another page in the chart and speared a lettuce leaf with her fork. "Dr. Grey." Addison said.

"Dr. Shepherd." Meredith said with a smile. "How are things with Cristina?"

Addison was taken aback by the sincerity in her tone. "Dr. Yang is an extremely gifted surgeon. But she really does not like babies." Meredith laughed.

"Good luck with her."

Addison nodded, confused. "Thank you." She peered over Derek's shoulder. "What's the case?"

Derek and Meredith exchanged a look. "It's not really important, Addie." Derek said.

Addison swallowed. "Well if you brought it to lunch, it must be important."

"It's Mark's chart, Addison. You can't see it, and unless you want to tell my why he's here, let it go."

Addison was silent. She had nothing to say to that.

* * *

He pulled the door shut and pressed her up against the opposite wall. His lips crashed into her with the urgency of a man who was tired of waiting. Their tongues battled each other for a brief moment, before he trailed jaws down her jaw line, neck and collarbone. He kissed her neck, and she sighed.

"Derek, we shouldn't." she breathed. He raised his head and kissed her lips again.

"Are you sure about that?"

"No." she said, kissing him again. Her delicate fingers slipped under his scrub top and played across his abdomen. He let out a low moan and pulled her closer to him. They broke apart as the door opened and Richard Webber loomed in the doorway.

He slammed the door shut and gave them a tactful minute to collect themselves. Seconds later, he was back in the room. The first thing he did was lock the door. "In the future, try this." He said, turning the lock.

They sat side by side on a bottom bunk and he stood in front of them, as though they were petulant school children and he was their teacher.

"Now, tell me what the hell is going on here?" he boomed. "You're married. And Meredith, you know that! I don't know how to say this, or how to tactfully… you don't want what happened to your mother."

Meredith was silent, waiting for Derek to defend this. He didn't disappoint her. "Richard!" He said sharply. "This isn't an affair. I'm leaving Addison."

Dr. Webber sat down on the bunk opposite them and placed two fingers on the bridge of his nose. "Have both of you thought this out?" he asked. Meredith nodded.

"This is what I've always wanted." He said, placing a hand over Meredith's. Richard nodded.

"All right then. But Derek, you need to tell her. Sooner rather than later."

* * *

"Dr. Shepherd." Came a familiar male voice from somewhere behind her.

Addison turned around. "Dr. Karev." She said. "What can I do for you?"

"I was just wondering if there was, um, anyway you could… if you could talk to Izzie."

Addison's face showed her obvious hesitation, so Alex jumped ahead. "It's just that she respects you, as a surgeon and a person and I think if you could talk to her, you might be able to get through to her."

Addison nodded. "I'll stop by the house tomorrow morning. Around eleven? I have surgery scheduled at one, but I'll stop by."

Alex looked at her for a long time. "Thank you." He said, walking away. Derek plopped down next to her.

"What was that about?"

"I agreed to go talk to Stevens."

* * *

_Seven Days_

Meredith woke up the next morning, smiling. Seven days. She didn't have to be at the hospital until three, when Derek had his first surgery. She could get used to this. It wasn't a bad routine. Lounge around all morning, and in the afternoon, perform brain surgery with the guy you love.

She looked at the clock and grinned. It was almost noon. She hadn't slept that much in long, long time. Her stomach clenched before she could stretch out and burrow beneath her covers again. She jumped out of bed and practically leapt into the bathroom.

She leaned over the toilet, and proceeded to, for the third day in a row, heave out everything she had eaten the day before. A sickening sort of feeling washed over her. She padded back to her bedroom and pulled a shoebox out from under her bed.

She sifted through the contents of the box. Packs of condoms, a few morning after pills she had gotten from the hospital and a home pregnancy test.

* * *

Addison climbed the stairs in Meredith Grey's house feeling awkward. She didn't want Meredith to know she was there, but she really had to pee. She crept quietly towards the direction Izzie said the bathroom was in, mercifully undetected by the intern assigned to her husband.

She perched awkwardly on Meredith's toilet, washed her hands in Meredith's sink and blew her nose with one of Meredith's tissues. She was tossing the tissue in Meredith's trash can when something caught her eye. She reached in and pulled out a pregnancy test.

A positive pregnancy test.


	7. Chapter 7

**Title: A Tale Of Two Cities**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T for language, sex, you know. **

**Disclaimer: We happen to own our personal anatomies, not Grey's. Or Patrick Dempsey's. Sadly. **

**Summary: Another shot at Post Prom. It's going to be a little silly. It will be our version of what happens post prom, and then jump a few months in the future when uh, some bicoastal high jinx ensue. So we'll start right after the prom. **

**Author's Note: Thoughts that go in first person inside a characters head are in italics. **

**This picks up right where the last chapter left off. This is our favorite chapter for this fic, maybe any fic we've done in a while. We're really proud of ourselves for this one. So feed our egos and REVIEW.**

_"You know that when the truth is told, that you can get what you want, or you can just get old." -Billy Joel_

_Seven Days_

Addison felt confused at first. Stevens? Yang, maybe? O'Malley and _Torres_. Later, she would laugh about how her subconscious simply covered what it didn't want to see. But right there, in Meredith Grey's bathroom, a blind rage simply overtook her as what she knew had to be true settled into her brain.

She slammed the door to the bathroom, and consumed with anger, yanked open the first door she saw. Inside the door, revealed Meredith, wearing a cable knit grey sweater and a pair of lacy black panties, which thankfully covered her butt cheeks.

Meredith was pacing the length of her bedroom, her jeans crumpled on the bed, waiting to be put on. She looked up as she heard the door slam shut.

"Addison!" Meredith yelped. "You're in my house. Cause you were talking to Izzie. And now you're in my bedroom, which is awkward." She watched as Addison's face changed from anger to shock, before finally settling on something that looked like disgust.

"You're pregnant with my husband's baby." Addison said, holding up the pregnancy test. Meredith wished with every fiber of her being that the floor would give in on the spot she was standing and send her falling through the ceiling.

"No!" she said, denying it.

"That's what I thought at first." Addison said. "Because to know now, you would have had to get pregnant around the time of…." She trailed off, obviously counting backwards in her head. "Prom." She laughed a cynical laugh. "This explains why my husband was so happy afterwards. And why he leaves our trailer in the middle of the night. And why you broke up with Finn."

Meredith shook her head, but Addison wouldn't let her speak. "Please don't patronize me by denying it. You're pregnant with my husband's baby. It's true isn't it?"

Meredith knew lying was not going to help at this point. She nodded slowly. "I'm sorry." She whispered, lamely.

"You're pregnant with my husband's baby." Addison repeated.

Meredith winced. "Dr. Shepherd…" she started. _Shepherd. Nice one. _"Addison. It might help if you stop saying that. Feel free to keep the look of horror and disdain on your face. I fully support you in looking extremely disgusted. It just might help you if you stopped. With the saying."

Addison just stared at her. "You're _pregnant_ with his baby. Is he leaving me?"

Meredith looked down, suddenly very interested in her carpet. Addison laughed a bitter, humorless laugh. "He is. And he, what, planned it with you? He didn't even give me a hint."

"I'm sorry." She said again, feeling like the biggest incompetent idiot to walk the planet. God, what was she anyway? She was an intern who popped gloves with her fingernails and helped her friend cut an LVAD wire. Addison was like, a high fashion, runway model slash surgeon.

Addison's eyes flashed with anger. "Well, as long as you're _sorry_, Meredith. That makes it all okay." She stood up. "I think I need a glass of water."

"The kitchen is…" Meredith started but the look from Addison silenced her. She sat on her bed, numb, as Addison left the room. She scooped up her cell phone from the bedside table and dialed the number of the only person she could think to call.

* * *

Derek was whistling. _Whistling_. Like he was a guy who was so happy he went fishing before work and whistled a lot. Wait, he _was_ that guy now. He was stepping out of the shower in the trailer, whistling. 

He almost wished there was someone else there, someone who would ask him why he was whistling, and grinning like an idiot. Just so he could smile and say, seven days.

He was dried, dressed and ready in practically no time at all, and contemplating stopping by Meredith's to pass the remaining hour before they had surgery, when the ringing of his cell phone distracted him. He smiled as he picked it up.

"I was just thinking about you." He murmured into the phone.

"Derek?" Meredith's voice asked, sounding shaken. "Derek, I think you better come over."

"I was thinking the same thing." He ventured, even though he knew something was wrong.

"Addison's here, Derek. She, um, she knows." There was a scuffle as Meredith hung up the phone. Derek closed his eyes, feeling guilty for not feeling worse. He scooped up his car keys and headed for Meredith's house.

* * *

It was laughable, really. The front door was open, so he let himself in. "Hello?" he called. There was no response, so he climbed the staircase and headed for Meredith's room, and what he found there was laughable. 

Addison was sitting on a chair, with her head in her hands and Meredith was pacing back and forth in front of her in her underwear. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair was messy, and she looked so damn cute, wringing her hands together, Derek would have flipped her onto the bed if Addison hadn't been there.

Meredith sank down on her bed and looked over at Addison, neither of them noticing him yet. "I'm so sorry." She said again. Addison didn't even respond this time.

After what felt like and eternity she looked at Meredith. "I should have known, you know. There was no going back to me after you." She said. Meredith shook her head. She didn't get it. Addison was brilliant and gorgeous and put together and matched. All the time.

She ran a hand through her hair and looked up. "Derek." She breathed, relieved. Addison's head snapped up towards the door and her eyes narrowed. She and Meredith both stood as Derek crossed the threshold into the room.

"Addison." He said, standing next to Meredith. They looked like a united front against her, Satan.

"How could you do this?" she asked her voice low and deadly. "You _slept_ with _her_." Meredith sucked in a breath as the pain and guilt hit her fast. Derek put a comforting hand on her shoulder and it sent Addison into a rage.

"I don't believe this!" she shouted. "You've been hiding this since prom!"

"How do you know that?"

"Jesus Christ, Derek, I can count!" she shouted at him. Derek blinked, confused, as Addison took her turn pacing. Meredith pulled her jeans off the bed and yanked them over her legs. It was almost cliché for the dirty mistress to stand around in her underwear.

"You were going to leave me. You were planning this with _her_ and you couldn't even tell me?"

"Don't refer to Meredith as _her_." Derek snapped. "And stop looking so disgusted."

Meredith put a hand on her forehead. "I told her she could look disgusted."

"God, you were planning to divorce me, and have this baby with her, and I'll bet you I'm the last person to know about it!"

The world spun. "Baby?" Derek echoed. "There's a baby?"

"Well she's pregnant, isn't she?" Addison snapped, too angry to realize that he didn't know. Derek sat down on the bed, massaging his temples.

He looked at Meredith. "You're _pregnant_? How could you keep this from me?"

She shook her head quickly. "I just found out." She told him.

Addison threw her hands in the air. "Well this is fantastic." She shouted. "You didn't even know, and you two were planning _my_ divorce." She looked at Derek's hands that were still at his temples. "You're not even wearing your ring." She murmured.

"You're pregnant?" Derek asked Meredith. "You're sure."

She nodded. "Pretty darn."

He let his head fall into his hands. "Oh Jesus." He muttered. Meredith couldn't take it anymore. He was obviously not happy about this news. Addison kept murmuring things under her breath, and suddenly the room felt about a thousand degrees and very small. She grabbed her purse and ran for the stairs.

Derek jumped up. "Meredith!" he called. Addison grabbed his arm.

"Derek Shepherd, don't you dare move an inch." He turned to face her.

"Addie, I'm sorry."

"Prom." She said. "That explains everything. The lattes and the sandwiches, and why you leave the trailer in the middle of the night. I knew every time I looked at the two of you there was something there. That's why she broke up with Finn. Why you let her perform your surgeries!"

Derek nodded. "Prom." He confirmed.

She looked at him, her eyes flooded with unshed tears. "Eleven years, Derek. Eleven years and this is how it ends? For cheap sex in a _hospital_?"

Derek yanked his arm from her grasp, his eyes flashing in anger. "Cheap sex?" He repeated. "Is that what you think she is to me? I love her, Addison. She's having my child." He said softly, more for his own benefit than hers.

She sighed and sat down on the bed. She wasn't going to yell. She wasn't going to throw things. She was going to get through this with her dignity in tact. If nothing else, she was Addison Forbes Montgomery, and she'd be damned if she lost her dignity.

"You love her." She said. It wasn't a question or an answer, just something that ripped the last thread of their union.

"I love her."

She looked at him and smiled slowly. He sat down next to her and she sighed again. This wasn't going to be easy. "I know you do, Derek. I always have. I shouldn't have…" She swallowed hard. "I shouldn't have put you in the position where you had to choose me."

"Addison, don't apologize. I'm the one who's sorry." He put a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it. She smiled slowly, leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

"She's having your baby, Derek. Go after her." Derek nodded, and stood. Addison nodded at him. "Go. I'll dig out the papers."

Derek blinked at her. "We still have papers?"

She shrugged. "I always knew it was only a matter of time."

With one last sad, crooked smile at his wife, Derek left her behind, and went running towards the future.

* * *

When he finally found Meredith, she was in OR three with a couple of scrub nurses, assembling scalpels on a tray. 

"Meredith." He said, "What are you doing?"

She avoided his gaze. "Prepping your OR Dr. Shepherd."

"Meredith, I need to talk to you."

She smiled blankly. "You've got surgery in twenty minutes. You should start changing."

"Fine, you want to talk here, I'll talk here." He said. "I didn't react well to the news. It was shocking to say the least, and a little much on top of telling my wife I'm leaving her. Which, is coming seven days ahead of schedule, by the way."

Meredith's head shot up. "You're still leaving?" she asked.

Derek's annoyance at her refusal to talk flooded away. His face softened. "Of course I am. I left." The scrub nurses all stared at them, wide eyed, barely able to contain their excitement. "We're having a baby, Meredith." He said gently.

"And you're okay with that?" she asked.

"I'm thrilled with that." He said. She opened her mouth to speak again, but the gossip fiends in scrubs were practically salivating, so she stopped herself, and pulled him outside. She pulled off her gloves. Derek sensed she was freaking out, so he stuck his head back in the OR. "Someone have the chief push the surgery back until tomorrow." He said. "It can wait. Or, if there's someone else who wants it, give it away."

Placing his hand on the small of Meredith's back he led her out of the scrub room to a nearby lounge. "You're not happy." He observed.

She shook her head. "I could be. Right now, I'm simply overwhelmed with sheer terror." She looked down. "I didn't have the best examples of parenting, Derek. I never planned on kids because I always knew I'd be a terrible mother."

He gathered both of her hands in his. "Meredith listen to me." He said. "You are not going to be a terrible mother, okay? You're not like Ellis. She was hard and cold. You're warm, and you feel things, and you love. Maybe not always wisely, but you love."

She shook her head. "I've been pretty wise this time."

He looked at her seriously. "I'll understand though, if you don't want to…" he trailed off and squeezed her hands.

"Do you not want me to have it?" she asked.

"It's not really my choice, Mer."

"But you have a voice in this. Whatever it is, Derek, tell me."

"Meredith, I…." he faltered a little bit. "I think we should have it."

She looked at him a long time before pressing her lips to his. Breaking apart, she smiled. "We're gonna have a baby." She murmured into his lips.

"Derek Shepherd Jr." Derek said. Meredith rolled her eyes.

"In your dreams." She said, as he put his arms around her and pulled her to his chest. "I love you." She whispered.

"I love you too." He said, placing a hand under her sweater on her stomach. "Both of you."

The moment was broken however, when the door swung open, and the interns burst in. "Okay, seriously, Mer, what the hell is going on?" Cristina demanded. "Because the nurses are all whispering about pregnancy, and Mark Sloan just checked himself out."

Meredith looked at Derek and back at her friends. George smiled. "I mean, you're not pregnant, right?"

Cristina looked at Meredith, and at Derek's hand under her sweater. "Oh My God." She whispered.


	8. Chapter 8

**Title: A Tale Of Two Cities**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T for language, sex, you know. **

**Disclaimer: We happen to own our personal anatomies, not Grey's. Or Patrick Dempsey's. Sadly. **

**Summary: Another shot at Post Prom. It's going to be a little silly. It will be our version of what happens post prom, and then jump a few months in the future when uh, some bicoastal high jinx ensue. So we'll start right after the prom. **

**Author's Note: Thoughts that go in first person inside a characters head are in italics. This is basically just tying up a lot of loose ends before we skip ahead into the future, and take it to New York. ****The reviews for all of our fics have been amazing. We love you all. Keep reviewing!**

"You are, aren't you?" Cristina asked her, staring as Derek slid his hand out from under Meredith's sweater.

Izzie, on her first day back to Seattle Grace, gaped. "You're_ pregnant_?"

Meredith smiled weakly. "I just found out. This morning."

"You two are having….I mean it's definitely…" George was stammering.

Alex rolled his eyes. "You're definitely the one that knocked her up?" he asked, looking at Derek.

Meredith's jaw dropped. Izzie and Cristina both hit Alex in the arm they were closest to. Derek nodded. "It's mine."

"I never slept with Finn." Meredith said. Everyone stared at her. "What?" she demanded. "Is that so hard to believe?"

When he friends had departed, Meredith looked up at Derek. "Thank you." She said.

"For what?"

"For being all Derek about this."

He smiled. "I was going to try and channel someone else, but it seemed more appropriate just to be all Derek about it."

Meredith pressed her lips to his cheek. "We're having a baby." She said, abruptly sitting up straight. "An actual tiny little human life form. And it's going to be our responsibility to take care of it, and be parents and stuff."

Derek laughed. "That is the idea."

"I have a person in my stomach. How'd _that_ happen?"

Derek smirked. "They skip sex-ed at Dartmouth?" He asked. "Cause I can refresh your memory if you need me to."

Meredith shook her head. "We need to do stuff."

Another cocky smirk. "That's what I'm saying, Mer."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Not that stuff, Dr. McSex A lot." She stood up. "I mean, I need to like, talk to the chief, have someone do tests, make sure everything is okay. We need to figure out what we're going to do."

Derek nodded. "When we're getting married." He said, casually standing up and sliding his arms around her waist.

Meredith's eyes widened, and she arched an eyebrow at him. "What did you just say?"

"Well, I assume that eventually, there will be vows exchanged between us. Nuptials. A union, if you will."

"Marriage?" Meredith repeated stupidly.

Derek nodded. "Marriage, Dr. Grey. It's what people do when they want to spend the rest of their lives with someone."

Meredith smiled. "And you'd want to marry me?"

Derek. "I want to marry you."

Meredith reached out ruffled a hand through his hair. "Let's wait for your divorce first, okay?"

He kissed her softly. "Are you sure? Cause if we moved to Utah, it wouldn't marry."

Meredith rolled her eyes and kissed him back, harder this time. "Shut up, Derek." She murmured into his lips. They broke apart when a cough from the doorway interrupted their reverie. Meredith looked over Derek's shoulder, and flushed a bright red color.

"Dr. Montgomery Shepherd." She said, looking down. Derek spun around.

"Addison."

"Hi." She said. "Sorry to uh, interrupt." Her tone wasn't cold, exactly, but it definitely wasn't overflowing with the warm fuzzies either. "But Meredith is pregnant. I thought she might need a doctor."

Meredith looked at her for a long time. "You'd do that?" she asked, sounding like an idiot to even her own ears.

"I'm offering, aren't I?" Addison asked. "Let's go Grey, I don't have all day." Meredith nodded and left the room quickly, without looking up from the floor.

Addison started to follow her, but this time Derek grabbed her arm. "Addison?" he said. "Thank you."

* * *

Addison scribbled one last note on Meredith's chart. "Everything seems fine, Dr. Grey."

"I'm so grateful to you for doing this." Meredith said, looking her in the eye, and sounding, thankfully, a thousand times more mature than she had earlier. "And I'm so sorry that you found out that way."

Addison nodded. "So am I, Meredith." She checked her watch. Comprehension dawned on Meredith.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" she said. "That's why Mark, Dr. Sloan checked himself out of the hospital."

Addison nodded. "I don't know what else to do. I can't be alone right now. I can't dive into work, because work is in Seattle. So I'm just going to turn around and go the other direction."

Meredith let her eyes travel over Addison. Isabella Rossellini. This immaculate creature, in Burberry Prorsum and Gucci. Not that Meredith knew that, of course. But as her sight roamed over the perfection of a woman before her, she realized something.

"You were kind of made for New York City anyway." She said, articulating her thoughts. "And for the record, Addison, I'm just as shocked about this as you are. Compared to you, I don't know what he sees in me."

Addison smiled, slowly and sadly. "Oh, I'm not shocked, Dr. Grey. This doesn't shock me. I just knew it was coming. If anything goes wrong with the baby, you can fly up until eight months."

She walked towards the door and Meredith knew this might be the last time she would ever see this woman. "I was so jealous of you." Meredith said, not meeting her eyes. "I was always so jealous. You came in here, in your fur trimmed coat, with your hair, and your wardrobe and your surgical background. You were everything I wasn't. You had Derek. And I was just so jealous."

Addison blinked back the tears in her eyes. "It's funny." She said quietly. "Because you're wrong. You had Derek. And that's why I was jealous of you. I'll see you, Dr. Grey."

Derek was waiting down the hall when Addison emerged from the room. She pulled papers out of the briefcase she was holding and held them out to her husband.

"Sign." She instructed. He took them from her, and she didn't wince when the ink flowed from the pen in the shape of his name. _Derek Shepherd_. No hesitating this time. She pulled her own pen out of her lab coat and signed. _Addison Forbes Montgomery Shepherd._

Derek looked at her. "I'm a brain surgeon, Addison." He said. "It didn't take me that long to put two and two together. Mark checked himself out of the hospital. Divorce papers. You're going back to New York."

She smiled. "Someone has to file the papers."

He nodded. "Does this feel like it should feel sadder to you?"

She shrugged. "Maybe we're both moving on to where we're supposed to be."

Derek smiled. "And usually it's me being all philosophic."

"People can change."

"People like Mark? What was he doing here, anywhere?"

Addison smiled at her soon to be ex husband and shook her head empathetically, sending red curls shaking. "Trust me, you don't want to know." She looked back towards the room where she knew Meredith was pulling her scrubs back on. "Take good care of that girl, Derek. She loves you so much it almost killed her."

Derek nodded. "Take good care of yourself, Addie." He said, kissing her cheek, and heading down the hall towards Meredith's room. Addison smiled slowly. It was fitting. She was the one going three thousand miles away, yet when it came time to walk away, she was still watching him.

She shook her head, took one last look around, and went to say goodbye to Richard, and meet Mark at the airport. She had thought for a long time that it would all work. Her sham of a marriage. Her covering up her feelings for Mark. Her in Seattle.

It didn't work. Derek had moved on. Hell, she had moved on, even if it wasn't so obvious to her at first. And Seattle? Seattle was a lovely city for some people. But for her, New York City beckoned.

* * *

Derek entered the exam room. Meredith was still sitting on the table, in a hospital gown. Derek sat down next to her. "How's the baby?"

"Young. Tiny. Fetal."

"I love you when you're verbose and articulate."

"She's leaving. Because of us."

"She's leaving because of a lot of things, Mer. One of them is us. But then there's Mark. And New York is her home."

Meredith nodded. "I just don't want to be my mother. That did something to Richard and Adele, whether they can admit it or not, that did something to them. I don't want to hurt…" she trailed off.

Derek nodded. "I know." He kissed her, softly at first and then a little deeper. "Mer," he asked her, his lips against hers. "Remember prom?"

"How could I forget?" she said, her mouth curving into a smile.

"You know, this exam table……" Derek said, sliding off, and facing her, again, reaching under her hospital gown, and pulling off her underwear.


	9. Chapter 9

**Title: A Tale Of Two Cities**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T for language, sex, you know. **

**Disclaimer: We happen to own our personal anatomies, not Grey's. Or Patrick Dempsey's. Sadly. **

**Summary: Another shot at Post Prom. It's going to be a little silly. It will be our version of what happens post prom, and then jump a few months in the future when uh, some bicoastal high jinx ensue. So we'll start right after the prom. **

**Author's Note: Thoughts that go in first person inside a characters head are in italics. **

**We havent updated this (or anything) for awhile, for which we apologize. But, if you all review (PLEASE) everything will be updated on a much more regular basis. Anyway, here is where the two cities part comes in. Basically, Mer and Derek head to New York in a blind panic, and Mark, who wants Derek back as his friend, is going overboard to be nice, while Addison is nervous about them coming, but she cant neccesarily figure out why. **

**So, read, enjoy and REVIEW.**

_Approx. Seven Months Later_

"You disgust me, you know that?" Cristina said, raising an eyebrow. "You've taken my best friend, and turned her all gooey, and baby happy."

"Is that a bad thing, Dr. Yang?"

"Seriously? Hormones and Meredith and she can't even drink?"

Derek smiled. "Just a little over a month to go. Ten blade, Dr. Yang."

Cristina sighed and handed him the instrument. "I don't even like brain surgery." She muttered. Derek eyed her. "Okay, a little. But cardio is way more manly."

"Hey!" Derek protested. "Brain surgery is plenty manly, okay?"

From her seat in the gallery, Meredith chuckled at the look on Derek's face. "Ouch." She commented. Alex and George were seated on either side of her, as they all watched. Meredith was in her last week of work, and doing nothing but labs and discharge.

But she made time to watch Derek's surgery. George looked at her nervously. "You could have taken this week off too, you know."

"Jesus, O'Malley, you're worse than her baby daddy."

"Baby Daddy? Seriously?" Meredith asked.

Alex shrugged. "It's an expression." His eyes narrowed in concern as she placed a quick hand on her growing stomach. "You all right, Grey?"

She smiled and waved it off. "Fine. Just kicking."

Alex and George exchanged a worried look over her head. She shook her head and smiled forcefully. "Seriously, you guys, it's fine."

Derek smiled up at her, and she waggled her fingers at him in a small wave. George shook his own head. "Who would have thought in all that time that you'd end up having his _baby_?"

Meredith didn't answer. She put both hands on her stomach and doubled over as a sharp pain rocked her abdomen. "Mer?"

She put a hand up and motioned down to the O.R. "Page Derek as soon as he's done with surgery." She sucked in a breath and shook her head. "George, get him now."

Alex sat down next to her and put a hand on her back. "Alex," She gasped. "Call Addison in New York."

* * *

"All right, people. That was an excellent, masculine surgery." He said, grinning under his mask. "If you'll stay with me while I close him up…" He looked up as the door to the OR slid open with it's usual swish.

"Dr. O'Malley."

"Dr. Shepherd." George said in his fake calm voice that convinced no one. "It's um, Dr. Grey? She asked me to come get you."

"Cristina, close him." Derek said, taking off after George.

There were times, Derek had always thought where pure adrenaline takes over your body. That's what happened to him. He didn't even scrub out of the OR. He just ran, gloves and cap and everything still on. He ran as fast as he could.

He reached the room George had shouted to him, and burst in the door. Alex was doing an ultrasound, and Meredith was already hooked to an IV, teetering on the brink of consciousness.

"Meredith." He said, grabbing her hand.

Alex turned to them before Derek could say anything else. "The baby looks stable for now. I'm seeing what looks like a small tear, but I don't know what's torn…" he trailed off and looked expectantly at Meredith and Derek.

"Do you want me to call the neonatal surgeon?"

"I thought you already did." Meredith whispered from the bed.

"I mean our neonatal surgeon."

Derek looked expectantly at Meredith who shook her head adamantly. "You learned from the best." She looked up at Derek. "I asked Alex to book a plane. We need to leave for New York."

A look of recognition flickered over Derek's handsome features. "Can you fly?"

She nodded. "Not for much longer, but for now, we have no choice." She squeezed his hand hard. "It hurts. I won't trust anyone but Addison."

Derek nodded and stroked her hair, murmuring things about how it would all be okay. Alex switched off the ultrasound machine. "She knows you're coming."

He moved to the door in the hopes of giving them a moment, but stopped before he actually left the room. Alex watched as Derek held Meredith's hands and whispered things he couldn't make out.

It amazed him, the way her demeanor changed from panic to a reassured calm after a few short minutes with him. She smiled, reached up, pulled off his scrub cap, and ran a hand through his thick hair. He said something and pointed to her stomach, and kissed her.

Alex marveled at how happy they looked, how genuinely happy, and he wondered, could he ever find that.

* * *

Addison Montgomery entered her brownstone. She was happy, she really was. She loved Mark Sloan, she really did. It felt right to be back in New York, it really did. So why did one phone call send her into a panic?

Because no one wants to save the baby that her ex-husband is having with his ex-mistress, now girlfriend? No, that wasn't it.

Because no one wants to be in the divorced couple with new significant others that just happened to be the dirty mistresses? No, that wasn't it either. She snapped her fingers. Oh right. It was because having Meredith and Derek in New York could potentially shatter her existence there.

And now she was thinking sarcastically and snapping her fingers at herself. She sighed and hung her Burberry trench coat in the hall closet. "Mark?" she called. Better break the news now.

He came into the foyer to greet her, kissed her cheek and motioned to the cell phone at his ear. "Okay." He said. "Tonight?" There was a pause. "No, don't take a cab; I've still got a car. I'll pick you up."

Addison's eyes narrowed. "Are you sure she's okay to fly and everything?" He nodded and listened. "Okay, Derek, just get here as soon as you can. All right. Bye."

He hung up and enveloped her in a hug. "Derek _called_ you?" she asked incredulously.

He nodded. "We got a chance to talk, you know. After my surgery, and he called to let me know they were coming. What do you think it is?"

"Uh, Karev faxed me her ultrasound. I won't know until I examine her but it could be a tear in the actual womb." She paused. "He called you? And you're picking him up at the airport?"

"Them." Mark corrected. "I'm picking them up. Are you okay about all this?"

She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her head and nodded. "I'm fine. I just know how…to see Meredith and Derek, and how they are, it makes people question, or something…"

Mark reached out and kissed her, a long, lingering kiss that she felt deep down to her core. "Don't worry about a thing."

He checked his watch. "Look, I've got a few errands to run, and it's going to take forever to get to Newark to pick them up. I should get going. Wanna come?"

Addison wrinkled her perfectly shaped nose. "No thanks." She thought about something as Mark hastily pulled a coat out of the closet and put it on. "Where are you taking them after you pick them up? Did Derek book his usual at the St. Regis?"

Mark smiled. "No."

"East Side W?" Addison guessed.

"No."

She wrinkled her nose again. "Times Square W?"

Mark smiled weakly. "East Side was closer."

Her eyes narrowed into tiny slits of green anger. "You're kidding."

Mark feigned innocence. Addison shook her head. "Mark, you didn't."

"She's potentially loosing her child. I felt bad, and overcome with gratitude since they saved my life, so they're staying here. You might want to put fresh seats on the guest bed." He called as he closed the door.

Addison shook her head and made her way to the kitchen. A situation like this called for one thing, and it wasn't sheets. It was vodka.


	10. Chapter 10

**Title: A Tale Of Two Cities**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T for language, sex, you know. **

**Disclaimer: We happen to own our personal anatomies, not Grey's. Or Patrick Dempsey's. Sadly. **

**Summary: Another shot at Post Prom. It's going to be a little silly. It will be our version of what happens post prom, and then jump a few months in the future when uh, some bicoastal high jinx ensue. So we'll start right after the prom. **

**Author's Note: Thoughts that go in first person inside a characters head are in italics. **

**We havent updated anything in forever, and we're sorry. But we will be updating much more frequently now. Sorry this is short, we're basically just establishing the atmosphere now that the four of them are on Mark and Addie's home turf, if you will. REVIEW.**

_"Can we get along all right,  
can we miss the storm that  
sucked the whole world in?"  
-Guster_

It didn't take Mark long to scan the crowds of people walking away from the luggage pick up to see them. He spotted Derek's dark wavy hair instantly. Mark stood back, watching them.

Derek had both of their bags slung over one arm, so he could hold her hand with the other arm. She was leaning into him, looking up and beaming. Mark met his old friend's eyes through the crowd.

"Mark!" Derek called out. He leaned down and whispered something to Meredith, who laughed. Mark pushed his way over to them, and smiled.

"You had to pick the airport in Jersey, didn't you?"

"Jersey has character." Derek protested. Mark smiled at Meredith.

"How's the little guy?"

"Little girl." Meredith corrected. "And she's okay, for now. The neo natal guy at Seattle Grace said it's definitely not a womb tear."

"Good, yes?" Mark asked. Derek nodded and kissed Meredith's cheek.

"Very good." He said.

Meredith frowned. Except now we have no idea what it is at all. Which is not good either." Mark shook his head.

"We won't be having any of that tonight. What we will be having is dinner. You up for it?" Meredith smiled and nodded. Derek squeezed her hand, and Mark took one of the bags off Derek's shoulder.

Meredith raised her eyebrows at him in a look that clearly said, 'he's trying', and the two followed Mark to his car.

Derek helped Meredith into the back seat of Mark's Range Rover, and shut the door. As Mark slammed the trunk shut, bags safely inside, Derek stopped him before going back around to climb into the passenger seat.

Hands shoved into the pocket of his jeans, he looked at his former friend, and the down at the ground. "Thanks." He mumbled. "She's scared. And I know it's weird, but, it's good. That we can stay with you guys. And not in some faceless hotel."

Mark nodded. "Don't mention it."

* * *

Addison hung up the phone and rolled her eyes. It felt surreal to make reservations at Pastis for your boyfriend, ex husband, and ex-husband's ex mistress. New York was supposed to be her untouchable place.

The place where none of the pain that was Seattle could infiltrate. So much for that. She thought for a minute, and tried to remove herself from the situation. She needed perspective.

Meredith was probably terrified. There were complications in her unplanned pregnancy, and the young woman had already admitted how inferior she felt in comparison to the father's ex wife.

And Mark. God, the look on Mark's face when he was on the phone with Derek. That brief conversation had elated him. Addison felt a pang of guilt. She couldn't blame herself entirely for what happened between them, but she was a big part of it. Mark missed Derek.

And Derek. It always came back to Derek. She loved Mark. She had accepted to finality of the divorce. But it still hurt, to know her husband was so much happier with someone else than he had ever been with her.

Addison rolled her eyes and shook her head at herself. She picked up her Ketel One and tonic and carried it to the linen closet and set it down on the dresser as she changed the sheets on the guest bed. Flannel probably wasn't the best choice when she was in the same house as Mark and Derek.

* * *

An hour later, she was seated at a corner table at Pastis, waiting for Mark to arrive with the weary travelers in tow. She had spoken to the new neo natal surgeon at Seattle Grace and they had agreed it was not a womb tear. She played with the stem on her wine glass, restraining herself, knowing full well that getting drunk was no way to handle the situation.

The door opened and she looked up. Her stomach clenched a little bit at the sight. Meredith entered the restaurant, guided by Derek's hand on the small of her back. She looked beautiful. She paused and pulled Derek's ear down to her mouth and whispered something.

Addison watched, mesmerized as Derek looked at her seriously, and nodded. He glanced around, leaned down and kissed her quickly on the mouth. In turn, Meredith glanced around, reached up, pulled his head down and kissed him hard.

Addison looked down into her wine glass, and when she looked back up, she was looking at Mark. He was staring at her, intently, focused, and lovingly. He nodded his head at her, and she smiled. They could do this.

They could all do this.

* * *

Meredith eyed Derek as Addison gratefully accepted her fourth glass of Chardonnay from the waiter. Derek rolled his eyes over the table at Meredith. Meredith sighed.

"Ok, I'll just say it. This is weird." She said, setting down her salad fork.

Everyone looked at her. She shrugged. "What? It is weird. The ex wife. The ex mistresses. The ex husband. The baby. It's prime time soap weird. If we acknowledge that it's weird, it might get easier to stomach."

Mark nodded. "It's weird. That's true. But, I, for one, am glad you two are here. There's no reason we have to keep to our own sides of the country, pretending like life just started eight months ago."

Derek nodded in agreement, looking at Mark and Meredith. All eyes rested on Addison. "Oh, what the hell?" she said, raising her wine glass. "To friends. As weird as it may be."

They clinked glasses together. Mark cleared his throat. "It's still going to be awkward as hell at home; you guys realize that, right?"

It was silent for a moment, and then, the ex couple and the ex mistresses all laughed.

Yes, maybe, just maybe they really could do this.


	11. Chapter 11

**Title: A Tale Of Two Cities**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T for language, sex, you know. **

**Disclaimer: We happen to own our personal anatomies, not Grey's. Or Patrick Dempsey's. Sadly. **

**Summary: Another shot at Post Prom. It's going to be a little silly. It will be our version of what happens post prom, and then jump a few months in the future when uh, some bicoastal high jinx ensue. So we'll start right after the prom. **

**Author's Note: Thoughts that go in first person inside a characters head are in italics. **

**The reviews for all of our fics have been amazing. We love you all. Keep reviewing!**

Addison was not happy. It was late. She realized that. Late, or early, depending on what constituted morning for you.

She opened one eye. With as much as she had to drink that night, she really did not want to wake up the next morning with no sleep and a pounding headache.

3:52 AM. Her sterling silver Tiffany's alarm clock didn't lie. It was late. She never woke up this late unless she was going to have sex. So what the hell…?

She remembered, stopped and listened. The tell tale sounds coming from the guest bedroom told her that she was awake because someone else was having sex. She flung the covers back and practically leapt out of the bed.

Mark rolled over towards her. "What is it babe?"

"Listen to that." She said angrily. "She's eight months _pregnant_ and they can't restrain themselves for one freaking night?"

She listened again, and in a rush of adrenaline, realized they were not moans of pleasure, but moans of pain.

"Addison!" she heard Derek shout. She shot a panicked look at Mark, threw her silk robe over her shoulders and headed for the door.

"What is it?" she asked, entering the guest room, where Meredith was doubled over next to the bed. She knelt beside her and reached for the house phone. She called the hospital and told them to send an ambulance.

"Where does it hurt?" she asked. Meredith shook her head.

"I don't know," she panted. "Everywhere?"

"Addison, do something!" Derek called panicked.

Addison grabbed Meredith's elbow. "Okay, Meredith, you need to sit down in a chair. Any added stress on your body is stress on the baby." She helped her up, and noticed a dark red spot on her sweat pants. Blood.

"What is it?" Meredith asked. "You're all worried looking." Addison shook her head.

"Just wait for the ambulance, Mer."

* * *

Addison rode in the ambulance with Meredith. The look on Derek's face when the doors shut haunted her. She sighed. This is exactly why she didn't want them to come. It was too hard; too hard to imagine what Mark's face would look like if it were all reversed.

Derek and Meredith, they had something. They had something that was bigger than they were, something… something destined. Addison shook her head and rolled her eyes at herself. She hated crap like that. Soul mates, love of his life, crap. She had never been the type to believe it, but here it was, staring her in the face.

It was in the face of her ex husband and the mother of his child. Something she was afraid she never had, and something she feared she was never going to find. A love so powerful, you'd kill for it.

The ambulance pulling up to the hospital stopped her thoughts. She got out and went in with Meredith directing the EMT that wheeled her to trauma. She ran to her office, changed and paged the neo natal resident on call.

They were having a hushed conversation while Meredith was lying down in a Lennox Hill trauma room. "Addison, please don't." she said weakly.

Addison looked up at her, questioningly. "Don't what?"

"Don't whisper about me like I haven't scrubbed in on these surgeries with you." Meredith pleaded. "Don't treat me like a patient who isn't a doctor."

Addison nodded. "You're bleeding heavily."

Meredith smiled weakly. "Yea, I noticed."

"Meredith, I need to an emergency C- section. I don't know what cause the pain or the bleed, and frankly, neither you nor the baby has time for me to find out."

Meredith nodded. "Can we wait for Derek?"

Addison shook her head. "I don't think so. I'll have Mark take him into the gallery as soon as they get here."

Meredith nodded again. "Yea. Okay." She said, her eyes shutting. "Hey, Addison?" she murmured. "Thank you."

Addison smiled tightly and turned around abruptly. "Okay people." She said. "Let's get her into the O.R."

* * *

Mark and Derek spent a tense cab ride from the brownstone to Lennox Hill. Derek looked down at his hands the whole time. Mark looked out at the city he loved.

"Derek, you know Addison is the best," he said. "She's in good hands." He hadn't said that Meredith would be fine, because neither of them knew that. They were doctors. False assurances were insulting, and Mark didn't have a lot of room to insult.

"It's my kid, you know?" Derek said quietly. "Addison used to tell me about these surgeries all the time, and I barely listened. They didn't mean anything to me then. But now it's my kid and my... Meredith. It's a whole new perspective."

"How's the view from your perspective?"

"It sucks."

"Yea. When you think about it, life usually does. Suck, I mean. It's prone to sucking, that's how it works. Life only stops sucking if you're really, really lucky."

They stepped into the hospital, and headed for the neo natal wing. Derek hadn't forgotten the layout of this place. He used to practically live here. "Dr. Sloan." A nurse approached them.

"In a hurry, Katie."

"Dr. Montgomery said to tell you they took her into surgery. O.R six, the gallery is open." Mark nodded, and shot a sidelong glance at Derek. His face had drained of its usual color to a pale, chalky, white. Mark gripped his shoulder and steered him towards the gallery of the O.R.

Addison glanced up into the gallery as they walked in. She nodded her head to them know she saw them, and then looked back down into Meredith's stomach. She bit her lip, and set to work at extracting the baby that had been conceived while she was still married to the father.

Derek all but collapsed into a chair in the deserted gallery. "A C-section?" he asked out loud. Mark didn't know if he was talking to himself, or if this was a question he was supposed to answer. "It's a month too early."

Mark sat down next to him. "Hey," he said softly. "Addie extracted a little guy last week that was just over the six month mark, and he's doing fine."

"We don't know what ours is. Meredith swears it's a girl."

"You guys are like, that couple, you know. The one that makes it."

Derek smiled, considering this. "Yea," he said slowly. "So are you, though."


	12. Chapter 12

**Title: A Tale Of Two Cities**

**Authors: Sara and Lizzie**

**Rating: T for language, sex, you know. **

**Disclaimer: We happen to own our personal anatomies, not Grey's. Or Patrick Dempsey's. Sadly. **

**Summary: Another shot at Post Prom. It's going to be a little silly. It will be our version of what happens post prom, and then jump a few months in the future when uh, some bicoastal high jinx ensue. So we'll start right after the prom. **

**Author's Note: This is the end! Basically, to avoid confusion, the baby is fine. They name her and go back to Seattle. Meredith flies to NY about two and a half months later to get a check up with Addie, since Addison is her OBGYN. And that's where the sequel comes in. **

**Look for 'It Takes A Village' coming soon. **

**REVIEW.**

"That's my child." Derek breathed in stark amazement.

"Your daughter." Meredith said, smiling and reaching her hand in to touch her daughter. "When can she get out of this?" she asked Addison.

"Four or five days." Addison said, smiling in spite of herself.

"Four or five days." Meredith repeated, slowly. Derek was grinning, a full ear to ear grin.

"She's perfect." Derek said his voice reflecting complete and utter awe.

"You know, you need to name her." Addison said.

"What?"

"Name her, Derek. Christen her with a name chosen lovingly by her parents." Addison's voice was sarcastic, tinged with amusement. Derek looked at Meredith, as though this had escaped all realms of knowledge until now.

"A name." he breathed.

"Yeah." She giggled. "A name. What do you think?"

"Kristin?"

"I lost my virginity to a girl named Kristin." Derek said automatically. Meredith and Addison wrinkled their noses simultaneously.

"Definitely not Kristin." Meredith said. "It's too girly anyway. God, look at those eyes. That hair. She's gorgeous."

"My eyes. My hair. Of course she's gorgeous, Mer." Derek said. "She looks just like me."

Meredith rolled here eyes and smacked Derek in the arm. "The face and hair might belong to you, sir, but the facial structure is all mine. She looks playful, mischievous."

"What about Cameron?" Derek asked.

Meredith looked at him. "Cameron." She murmured. "I like it. I think it works."

Derek gripped Meredith's hand and looked at his daughter. "Cameron Shepherd." Out of the corner of her eye, Meredith saw the glint of red hair of the woman who had let her husband go, and the woman that had saved her baby.

"Cameron Addison Shepherd." She said firmly. Addison smiled at them and turned away so they wouldn't see the tears forming in her eyes.

Mark found her later, in the hallway, wiping tears from her eyes. "Addie…" he said.

"Cameron Addison Shepherd." She said. "That's what they named her. I just…"

Mark had been wondering when the time was going to come when he should say this. It had been in his head since that conversation with Derek. How to say it, how to get it out. It hadn't come to him until this very moment.

"I want us to be one of those couples." He blurted out. Addison blinked at him, confused. "One of the couples that makes it. That defies the odds. I want us to always argue over linens and Ketel One versus Grey Goose. I don't want you to give up on me, Addie."

Addison smiled through the tears that threatened to spill. "How did this happen? Seriously? Derek just had a baby with his dirty mistress, and I'm so in love with you, it terrifies me."

Mark smiled, pulled her close and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her head, her forehead and then her lips and smiled into her mouth. "I love you, Addison Montgomery." He said.

When they got back to the NICU, Meredith was chatting away on her cell phone. "Put me on speaker, Joe." She commanded. "It's a girl!" she squealed. "We had her three days ago, but it was tricky. She needed a surgery, and it was…it was a little rough. Addison was amazing though."

There was a long pause and the grin on Meredith's face broadened. "She's beautiful. She has dark curly hair and these gorgeous, gorgeous blue eyes."

"So she's McDreamy junior?" they heard Izzie yelp into the phone.

"She's got my face." Meredith protested. "Her name is Cameron. Cameron Addison Shepherd."

"You named your kid after McWife?" Cristina barked into the phone. Behind Meredith Mark and Derek snickered.

"Cristina!" Meredith said. Addison chatted with Mark and Derek as Meredith talked to each of their friends, and Joe.

"We'll be back in two weeks." Meredith said.

* * *

_**Two And A Half Months Later**_

Addison walked into the room and rolled her eyes. She didn't really feel the need to investigate the vagina of her ex husband's dirty mistress, but hey, a job was a job. And since Meredith and Derek had stayed in her apartment for two weeks after the baby,she was sort of used to their constant presence. Still, it didn't mean she wanted to poke around Meredith's vagina.

"Sorry." Meredith said as Addison sat down.

"What are you sorry for?" Addison asked.

"When you walked in, you had this look on your face. It was then I realized my vagina is probably the last place you want your hands."

"I actually like you, Meredith. And you did fly all the way here from Seattle for this check up."

"I know. But you still don't want to touch my vagina."

"That's very…." Addison blinked. "Meredith, come with me." She said.

Meredith followed her down the hall, her mind spinning. "Where are we going?"

"Ultrasound." Addison said her voice purposefully breezy.

"Yea, why?"

"Just come with me, Meredith." Addison said. Meredith didn't argue. She didn't even say anything as Addison led her into the ultrasound room. She didn't say anything as Addison spread the ultrasound gel onto her stomach.

She closed her eyes and turned her head towards the monitor. When she opened one eye to look at the monitor, her heart stopped. "Jesus Christ!" she shouted. "What the hell is that?"

Addison shot her a look. Meredith sputtered and her face reddened. She looked like her head might explode. "You guys had sex that soon after a C section?"

"We're creative!" Meredith snapped. "Give me your phone!"

Addison handed it over, and Meredith dialed Derek's cell phone number by heart. Addison looked on in bemused fear at her rage.

"Addison?" Derek answered. "Isn't Meredith with you? What's wrong?"

"Mother fucker!" Meredith shouted. "It's me, you ass. And I'll tell you what's wrong. I'll tell you _exactly_ what's wrong. I'll tell you that you and your stupid penis, which I may chop off, and your sperm have got twins in my stomach. Twins Derek. Two babies. Two. Plus Cam makes three."

"You're pregnant again?"

"No. I'm hatching twins. Of course I'm pregnant, you asshole."

"Meredith, Meredith. Breath, okay?"

"No I will not breathe, Derek. I'm an intern. I have a career. I can't have three children under the age of, well, three and be an intern."

"Mer, yes you can. We can work this out. We've got a family at that hospital. I'm shocked. And scared. And you're obviously freaking out. And very angry. But we can do this."

"Derek…."

"So they'll be raised by the village, Mer. That's all right. I promise you we can do this. Just come home, and we'll work it out."

"You really promise?"

"I really promise."


End file.
